


Elephantilda

by jumphighlamb



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Dystopian Fiction, M/M, Mix of magic and sci-fi for some good old fun, Mystery, Socially Awkward Arthur, Typical mature-ish themes of dystopia included, based on a wacky dream i had, blame the nature of dreams for that XD, but they're not that bad, fluffy romance in chapter 2, haha - Freeform, where the plot slowly thickens...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26558047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jumphighlamb/pseuds/jumphighlamb
Summary: Alfred Jones lives in the city with his father and his brother. What he doesn't know, is that its borders are completely surrounded by desert. One day, when he gets into a bit of trouble with the authorities, he takes flight, and finds himself outside the city, wandering out into the desert.There, he finds himself guided to a beautiful waterhole sanctuary, where the water is strange and pink elephants with bright green eyes roam about in peace...Along with only one person Alfred is certain is either an alien or an angel due to his glowing green eyes.A young man who calls himself by the name Arthur Kirkland.Five chapter fic based on a strange dream I had a few nights ago! Enjoy :)
Relationships: America/England (Hetalia)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	Elephantilda

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I decided to start writing this in an effort to replenish my creativity and refresh me before I get back to writing Magna Arthur. 
> 
> I want to make sure that series is super well written, so I chose to write this to explore my writing style better and give myself a little healthy break so I can make sure I'm the very best I can be :)
> 
> MA chapter 25 should be out soon!
> 
> But for now, I hope you enjoy this little mystery/sci-fi/dystopia/magic fic! haha!

Alfred Jones loved his father. He loved his twin brother Matthew too. Would there be any real reason for anything otherwise? They were all he’d ever known, after all.

He smiled broad and wide as he wrapped an arm over Mattie’s shoulder. They leaned on the railing of their family balcony that pointed out to where the sun was setting. They waited for the stars to come out, as they always did, talking idly as they felt the breeze on their faces.

Below them were the robots, as usual. They were picking up the litter left around from the day, doing all the mundane manual jobs humanity had left to them long ago.

Alfred looked down to watch a few of them walk under the balcony, and around their house. “Hi Samantha!” He called out to one.

She didn’t respond. She never did; she wasn’t programmed to. But Alfred didn’t mind.

“Talking to her again?” Matthew asked with an eyebrow raised. He shook his head and looked back to the sunset. “You’re strange.”

Alfred smirked playfully. “Don’t act like you don’t say howdy to people walking down on the streets as well,” he mocked.

Matthew shrugged his arm off his shoulder. “She is a robot, Alfred. Unlike Mr Wilson over there.” He then leaned forward, and shouted out to the elderly man putting a key into his front door. “Hello, Mr Wilson! How are you doing?”

The old man looked up at them, and waved back kindly, yet a tad bit slowly.

Alfred frowned as he leaned in to whisper to Matthew. “Mr Wilson? Is that our new neighbor?”

“Yeah,” Matthew hissed back through gritted teeth. “Be nice to this one, ok? He’s on a lot of government benefits.”

“Is he now?”

“Yeah,” Matthew relaxed. Apparently Alfred’s expression wasn’t mischievous enough for him to feel worried. “He told me the government funds his eye contacts. He couldn’t say why though. He just said he had to wear them all the time, and he’d get in trouble for wasting government money if he took them off.”

Alfred rolled his eyes as he fumbled with the ribbon in his pocket. He’d had that longer than he’d known himself. “Is that so?”

Mattie shrugged. “It’s what he said to me,” he said quietly as he pointed out to the sky. “Look. The first star of the night.”

Alfred looked up, and then he was smiling again. It twinkled bright and sparkly. So sweet and serene. Alfred wondered what it’d be like to visit a star. He then looked over to the side. Maybe even the moon, too.

He sighed into the railing. “Maybe one day… we could build a bus. Then we could take it to the moon.”

Matthew looked at him funny. “There’s no way for us to get to the moon.”

“Oh, well not yet. Which is why we should build a bus…”

“It would need to fly. And busses can’t fly.”

“Then we’ll find a way to make it fly.”

Matthew shook his head. “I’ll never understand your obsession with chasing the things in the sky. They’re nice enough as they are, just looking at them from here. Why do you have to follow them?”

“I don’t know. It’s probably something innate in me.”

“Something innate in you?”

“Yeah! Well, I’m just guessing. I don’t really know myself that well.”

Matthew sighed. “Nobody really does, in this world.”

Alfred stared at him sadly. “I like to think I know you well.”

Another sigh. “Same from me to you.”

“Anywhere I go…” Alfred said as he turned around and leaned onto the railing. “I’d want to stay with you.”

Matthew laughed. “That implies that you are the one doing the travelling, and that I would have to be the one tagging along with whatever whims you’re up to next.”

Alfred nodded smugly, feeling the breeze on his back, so cool and calm. It was a nice evening. “Yeah… Would you mind that?”

It took a while for Matthew to respond. “No… No I wouldn’t. You’re right, for once. I would never want to be split apart from you. Wherever you go, whatever you do… Make sure you always have me beside you too.”

Alfred smiled much brighter than the sun did as it set. “ok then, I’ll make sure of it. You can count on me!”

.

.

Alfred left his ribbon somewhere. He didn’t know where. He’d been scurrying through the house all day, scrambling to try and find it. But alas, he had no luck.

“Ugg,” he groaned after he retraced his steps for the thousandth time. He passed the robot housemaid, and stopped her with a tight grip on her arm as he checked all her shoulder compartments. Nope, no ribbon there either. Strange. Sometimes she’d steal something of his and stuff it in there. But if she didn’t seem to have it… so then where was it?

“Martie, do you know where my father is?” He asked her before letting her go.

The blue light on her cheek flickered for a second as she processed his words. “He is at his work. He should be home by 6pm.”

Alfred groaned.

“Matthew!” He cried out as he climbed the stairs, ready to burst into his room. He could always count on Matthew to know where something of his was. “Have you seen my ribbon?”

“No! Leave me alone, I’m drawing!” A voice cried out from behind the door. Alfred opened the door wide before hearing a loud, exasperated sigh. “Have you retraced your steps?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I’ve been everywhere but the Great Hall!”

“Well then, why don’t you check there.” Matthew grumbled before turning back to his desk and continuing his artwork.

“But Mattie! You know the Great Hall is out-of-bounds when it isn’t the day of the week’s end!”

“But if it’s the last place you haven’t checked…”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it after the last time we’ve been there…”

“Oh my…” Matthew's agitation sizzled out just before he could finish. Instead, he changed his tone completely. “Oh! Is it really true?” He laughed softly as he spun around in his chair, preparing for his grand accusation. “You’re scared!”

“What?” Alfred gasped, putting his hands on his hips. “No!”

“Yes you are. You’re refusing to go there because you’ll get into trouble.”

Alfred stood affronted. He had no idea Matthew had that in him. “Oh what? And you’re not?”

Matthew shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t need to go there, so I won’t. I’m not a rule-breaker. Can’t have Leader disappointed in me.”

“But what about us sticking together?” Alfred whined.

Matthew scoffed. “That is for ride-or-die situations, Alfred. This is a small matter – a trip to a meeting hall we visit every week. _For a ribbon_.”

Alfred stomped his foot in frustration. So much for counting on his brother for support.

Matthew sighed, suddenly looking far more sympathetic. “It doesn’t really hurt to check there, does it? You never know, it might actually be there. Besides, they only guard the place with robots, and I know you can sneak past those easily. An extra body would just slow down your whole mission.”

Ahh, curse Matthew and his rationale! Alfred stopped his foot again.

“Ok.” Ultimately Alfred resigned, defeated. There was nothing else he could say to convince Matthew otherwise. And he was right, it might very well be sitting somewhere in the Great Hall. And that really felt like Alfred’s last chance at ever finding it.

So after some careful thought, he made his own way and left on his own.

The Great Hall was massive. An old lady told him the last time they left the hall that it had once been called a cathedral. Alfred had no idea what that was, but it sounded like a noble and sturdy word. Much like the Great Hall building itself.

Extra floors had been built on top with scaffolding all around them for the sake of fitting more people in. It was a necessity that the celebrated location could house the entire city’s population into one tiny event. That was, of course, because nobody could ever afford to miss that one big meeting held on every day of the week’s end.

But that was tomorrow, not today.

So the entire place looked like a ghost town.

Except for all the robots around it, with big sticks and batons and guns. Alfred would have to find a way to get past those.

He crouched behind a black barrel and peeped over, thinking of his plan of action. The robots moved in a pattern. Forward, left-spin, back the other way and then a right-spin. That was for those in the front. For those on the sides of the building, Alfred couldn’t really tell, but he could see that for every odd noise sounded, they’d change direction to chase that instead.

Ugg. How was he supposed to work this out? He _thunked_ his forehead straight onto the barrel, and it rolled forward ever so slightly.

_Wait a minute._

Those stupid robots are _distracted_ by noise.

He picked himself up, and spun around, looking for something to push and prod the barrel forward. This was his perfect opportunity! A chance to slip fast without a single risk of being caught!

He found a long stick – maybe something that was once a broom – near a bin and poked the barrel with it. The second he was certain it was rolling down a slant at an impressive speed, he bolted. He his around the corner, and ran alongside the wall. He came across an alleyway, took a twisted turn, and rushed to climb the building beside the Great Hall.

He looked down – no robots were in sight! They’d all fallen prey to his bait! Excellent!

He reached out a hand for the scaffolding around the Great Hall, so far over its property limits that it hung over the building Alfred was on. He clung onto it, and used his arms to pull himself up. He giggled as he stood up onto the platform, jumping and cheering in delight as he realised what he had done right before the whole thing started to rattle. He yelped, running to the window and all eager to hop straight inside out of fright.

He opened the window easy, and slipped in. And then he was in there – the second floor of the Great Hall building.

But it… it didn’t look like it. There was not a single soul inside… Alfred’s mouth opened wide as he spun around, looking at the whole floor with amazement and wonderment. It was so clean and pristine. But also…

There seemed to be new walls all around as well. Alfred frowned. That was odd. That was really odd. This whole floor was supposed to be empty. People came in here to stand during city meetings, and that was it. Every other day was strictly banned – no one could ever enter. That was Leader’s orders.

There was no need for any sort of smaller rooms. And yet, for some reason, somebody has gone and built all these temporary barriers, making a small room around this window. Alfred walked around all confused, frightened, and feeling so estranged from this unexpected setup.

He gripped his own arm and held it tight, passing through the first doorway. And then his eyebrows raised. There was a corridor, with dozens of doors no doubt leading to rooms he’d never seen before. This was not the Great Hall Alfred knew and loved. This was… this was someplace else.

He had to… he had to leave, there was no way he would find his ribbon here. He didn’t even know if it was worth the search at this point. He was about to turn around before he heard a gurgled cry, and a man suddenly feel through one of the doorways. He crumpled down to the floor, screaming profanities as a couple robots from behind the wall grabbed at him with their steel-like rods of arms and began pulling him back into the room.

“I KNOW!” The man screamed as he thrashed and struggled and heaved. “I know what you do to us! I know what you do to us!”

Alfred’s eyes widened as he took a few steps back, his back slamming into the doorway of his own so tiny room.

The man looked up, and spotted him, and he fell dead quiet as his soulless eyes glared straight into Alfred’s very own. Then, the robots paused as well, and they poked their glowing red heads out the door, their necks twisting unnaturally as they looked straight at whatever the silenced screamer had his eyes on.

Alfred screamed as he bolted for the window, and he hurried even faster through it as he heard them coming for him. He cried out in shock and horror as he ran over the scaffolding and jumped down onto the pipes of the second building, sliding down them in an instant and running back up the alleyway.

There a few robots stood, watching a cat run around, and he fell back again, taking another turn before they could see him and bolting for the main street of whatever part of the city he was in.

He was panting heavily, and he held his chest with his hands so tight.

“What the…” he gasped. “What the hell was that?” He nearly sobbed, but he froze in absolute fear as he watched some of the robots in the crowd suddenly snap their heads to stare at him, their blue cheeks slowly passing through purple until they finally glared at him, bold and brightly red.

Alfred’s legs started to shake, but he forced himself to start running again. And he _ran_. He ran past a lot of people, past some shops, past the mall, past the bus stops, past houses and streets of neon lights and places teenagers would go to party.

He ran until he reached the lone wall. The boarder of the city. Nobody ever left the city. Leader forbade it. But Alfred was too frightened to obey such an order.

He ran past some boxes and some tables that families must had thrown out after who knew what reason. He raced and hurried to stack them all up, just enough for him to get over, and he climbed them, so clearly unstable. They rocked and made strange creaks and cranks, and when Alfred reached the very top of the wall it all crumbled down from under him, leaving him up there all alone at the top.

He swung himself over the wall, and dropped himself down to the other side. His back hit the ground with a heavy soul-crushing thwack, and he had to hold his hands to his face and stifle his groans.

_There were still noises coming from the other side of the wall._

The robots were on him.

He forced himself to roll over and shoot up. He had to keep running. He had to keep going.

He looked out to the place all around him. Nothing but bushes after bushes, all coming out of an infertile land and piles of sand.

So this was the outside of his city. He could have wept. Leader was right – it was so pitiful and barren out here. No wonder the man was hailed as such a hero by those older than him, who had seen this place long before it was a crime to do so. He was said to protect the city from this.

Alfred couldn’t run anymore. But he could walk, even though each step was a little more agonizing than the last. He sped as fast as he could through the bushes, eventually losing track of time, and of how far he had gone.

It was long past 6pm. His father would be home by now. Matthew would be worried. But he couldn’t turn back anymore. Even if he had the strength, he couldn’t.

Eventually, he reached a strange barbed wire. A fence. The very very outskirts of the city boundaries. Past it was nothing but sand. A frozen cold desert wasteland.

There he started crying. What was he supposed to do? Walk out there until he starved? Would he ever see his family again? He couldn’t go out there! There was nothing out there!

But how was he going to go back now? They caught him! He didn’t want whatever punishment that man went through. He had no idea what they were even doing to him. He had no idea…

What…

He closed his eyes, his hands held tight onto the wire. He didn’t care how it prickled. He just wished it could tell him what to do.

Stupid Matthew and his stupid pressuring. Alfred should have never listened to him.

He wiped his eyes in anger as he opened them, then narrowing his eyes as he saw a strange tinge on his fingers.

He looked up, and there it was. The reason his fingers were tinged such a strange color in the middle of the lost and lonely, cold dark and scary night.

A bright pink star, looking much like the pattern on his own ribbon. It shone over him, calming him, beckoning him to follow.

He dried his eyes completely, and he stood up, almost smiling. It wanted… it wanted him to follow it. Alfred Jones, always chasing the stars, huh? Well, he didn’t have a bus. But he supposed he was fine with walking. Hah, he could have sworn he heard himself laughing.

He pulled at the wire, making a big enough gap for him to pass through. And then he was outside. He was in the desert.

He walked for what felt like hours, but Alfred couldn’t tell. All he could see was the bright shining light of the lovely pink star. It directed him out past dune after dune, until eventually he could walk no more.

He collapsed into the sand, feeling the cold, cold breeze blow right over him as he passed out, sprawled out on the ground completely spent and exhausted.

But… just before he closed his eyes, he could have sworn in the break of dawn… there was a very distant glimmer of a different sort of pink somewhere out there, very far away from him.

**Author's Note:**

> I live for comments, guys!!
> 
> as always, thanks for reading <3 <3


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